People on Sheares Bridge in front of the two durians bidding farewell to LKY. It was a very wet day.

10/30/2007

Good that ERP rates have gone up

Finally a bold decision has been taken to raise ERP charges higher. Unfortunately it is still not going to be effective. It is still not high enough. We really need to have a tough man at the job to go for it, $10 or $20 per pass should do the job. Then the expressways will be faster and smoother.
The raising of the charges will mean a few things. The smaller roads or roads with cheaper ERP charges will be jammed. That is what my crystal ball said. Unless public transport is good enough to replace private transport, and unless people with families and little children to rush to parents or schools can find alternative tranport that is efficient and fast.
What is going to happen is that people will get use to the high charges and go back to use the expressways as there is no other better alternative transportation to meet their needs.

3 comments:

I absolutely agree with raising the ERP into the stratosphere during peak periods. In a free market, that's how it would be done.

Why?

Roads (space) are a fixed resource, and at peak periods they become a scarce resource (as opposed to say, 4am).

The alternative routes should be charged as well. The idea here is to make a disincentive for people to use the roads at certain times—unless they have business so important that it warrants paying the high price.

People like business folks, agents etc shouldn't be concerned—the high ERP charge at peak periods becomes a business expense and is therefore tax deductible.

Buses of course should be exempt, as to encourage people to use mass transport is a rational thing to do.

taxis should also be exempted as they provide an essential service and maximise the use of a vehicle on the road.

what the motorists should be pissed off is that many billions have been collected through ARF, PARF, COEs, petrol taxes, road taxes, parking and ERPs. How were these money used to solve the congestion problem?

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